Archive | February 2014

Terrorists have invaded Sydney, and Allison King
barely escapes her brother’s wedding reception alive. She and her siblings
flee, but their parents are killed by firing squad.

Now Ali’s on the run and terrified. While
searching for other survivors, she is captured by the General who leads the
invasion. He’s smitten by Ali, and when she refuses to submit to his whims, he
brands her for death. In a wild act of defiance, she snatches the branding rod
and sears the mark onto his face. Marking not only him but also sealing her
fate. Ali manages to escape and flees into the bush once more where she finds a
group in hiding. Even with the scars left by the General, Ali learns to love
and falls in love with the young man who found her—Damien Rogers.

But the General is hunting her. When he
discovers their location, and finds her with another man—Damien—his wrath is
kindled and his obsession is inflamed. Ali must put herself on the line or the
General could kill her family, those who help her, and most significantly, the
man she loves.

in the “bush”, and having her father tell her wild
bedtime stories, inspired her passion for writing.

After graduating High School, she became a foreign exchange student where she
met a young man who several years later she married. Now she lives in Arizona
with her husband, daughter and their dog.

She has a diploma in travel and tourism which helps inspire her writing. She is
currently at school studying English and Creative Writing.

Katie loves to out sing her friends and family, play sports and be a good wife
and mother. She now works as a Clerk with a lien company in Arizona to help
support her family and her schooling. She loves to write, and takes the few
spare moments in her day to work on her novels.

Australian writers rock. We know it, and we love them. But it’s not always easy to discover the Australian talent that is right under our noses.

From Australia With Love Blog Hop introduces you to 18 Aussie authors across a variety of categories and genres. Each author is hosting three of their fellow blog hop participants between now and Valentine’s Day to let you find out more about them. So follow them on twitter, like their Facebook page and visit their blogs during the blog hop period to discover more great Australian writers.

And to show how much these Aussie authors love their readers, they’ve donated some great prizes for you to win!

Today I have K.A. Last stopping by.

When I sat down to write my first book, Fall For Me, I had absolutely no idea
what I was doing. I decided to follow the advice of write what you know, and
what I know pretty well (in my opinion) is Australia. You’d hope so anyway,
since I was born here and—apart from a three year stint OS at a young age—I
grew up in this great land.

The setting for Fall For Me may not seem overly Australian at first, but its roots
lie in and around an Aussie country town. That town is surrounded by state
forest, which is why I use the term forest instead of bush. I changed the place
names because for some reason I felt weird typing the real ones. Who knows why,
I just did, so my fictional names stayed. Although, if I told you the real
names you’d be able to see how I came up with them.

The fact that I’m an Aussie living in
Australia plays a big part in shaping the stories I write. Today I want to talk
about some of the things I’ve mentioned and used in Fall For Me that absolutely scream Aussie for me.

Ute:
This car is an Aussie icon, and every farmer I know has one. I know a lot of
city people—often tradies—who own this little piece of Australia as well
*raises hand*. Not only are they practical work horses, but they’re pretty
cool, too. I love my ute, and some days I miss being the one to drive her every
day, because hubby now uses her for work.

Bedford
Truck: Every farm in Australia would have one of these,

or something
similar. It’s like a crime not to have a rusty, falling apart truck somewhere
on your property. Sometimes even several. I’m sure it’s the same in other parts
of the world, but the rusted panels, grass growing out of the engine bay, and
possums nesting in the front seat, scream Australia to me. This truck is on my
parents’ property. It, and the country side surrounding it, is the inspiration
for some parts of the Tate Chronicles, but I’m not going to tell you where it
is because I’m mean.

Cicadas:
This summer the cicadas have been out in force, to the point where you can’t
talk to the person standing beside you because the little buggers are so loud.
You know summer is well and truly here when the cicadas start up before you’re
out of bed in the morning.

Moreton
Bay Figs:(Ficus macrophylla)
These large, majestic trees are a native of most of the east coast of
Australia, and their common name comes from Moreton Bay in QLD. They have huge
root systems called buttress roots, and are best known for this beautiful
feature. The tree in the image below is in a little NSW country town which also
inspired parts of the Tate Chronicles. This particular tree is where I had my
wedding photos taken, so it has a special meaning for me.

About
the author:

K. A. Last was born in Subiaco, Western
Australia, and moved to Sydney with her parents and older brother when she was
eight. Artistic and creative by nature, she studied Graphic Design and
graduated with an Advanced Diploma. After marrying her high school sweetheart,
she concentrated on her career before settling into family life. Blessed with a
vivid imagination, she began writing to let off creative steam, and fell in
love with it. K. A. Last is currently studying her Bachelor of Arts at Charles
Sturt University, with a major in English, and minors in Children’s Literature,
Art History, and Visual Culture. She resides in a peaceful, leafy suburb north
of Sydney with her husband, their two children, a rabbit named Twitch, and a
guinea pig called Squeak.

“Angels aren’t supposed to fall in love,
especially with each other. But for the record, you were worth it.”

Grace Tate is a Protection Angel and
Vampire Hunter, and she has always followed the rules. But some rules are made
to be broken…

Until now the fight against evil has been
simple, and falling in love was never part of the plan. So what happens when
it’s beyond Grace’s control, and when she least expects it she falls for the
wrong person?

All hell breaks loose, that’s what.

At Hopetown Valley High, not everything is
as it seems, and the one person Grace thought was her enemy becomes her most
important ally.

Blood will be shed, lives will be lost and
friendships will be tested. It all comes down to one decision, and when Grace
tries to save all those dear to her, she realises not everyone can be—or wants
to be—saved.

Seth’s heart is breaking. He knows his
decision will hurt the one person he keeps breathing for, but he can’t take it
anymore. He can’t be near Grace knowing she will always be just out of reach.

Grace is oblivious to Seth’s turmoil. She
loves him unconditionally, but not in the way he wants. They both know that in
Heaven physical love is forbidden, and to break the rules is to defy everything
they’ve ever been taught.

When Grace and Seth are sent on a mission
to save a young mother and her unborn child, Grace must face the fact that Seth
won’t be returning home. She doesn’t understand Seth’s decision and hates him
for it. But what neither of them realise is how big a part that single decision
will play in shaping their entire future.

Australian writers rock. We know it, and we love them. But it’s not always easy to discover the Australian talent that is right under our noses.

From Australia With Love Blog Hop introduces you to 18 Aussie authors across a variety of categories and genres. Each author is hosting three of their fellow blog hop participants between now and Valentine’s Day to let you find out more about them. So follow them on twitter, like their Facebook page and visit their blogs during the blog hop period to discover more great Australian writers.

And to show how much these Aussie authors love their readers, they’ve donated some great prizes for you to win!

Today I have Cameron Trost stopping by.

A Fictional Tour of Brisbane

I was born and grew up in Brisbane and even though I travel
quite a lot, my home town is often present in my fiction. There are references
to bands, such as The Cairos, and
historical figures like the dreaded Captain Logan, but this article is all
about places in Brisbane. Today, I’m going to take you on a tour of my city not
on foot or by bus but through my fiction.

Whenever I set a story in Brisbane, the location plays a
major role, almost as though it were a character itself. Many of the
twenty-three short stories in my collection, Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales,
are set in Brisbane. I’m going to introduce three of them, all of which use the
setting to carry the story. What I mean by this is that if they had been set
anywhere else, they would have been very different stories.

The setting of Kangaroo
Point is obvious enough for anybody who has ever been to Brisbane. The view
from the top of the cliffs across the river to the skyscrapers of the central
business district is wonderful. It’s a popular spot for photographers and
painters as well as rock-climbers looking to practise their sport at a
convenient location. However, the man standing at the edge of the Kangaroo
Point cliffs in this story is there for a much less prosaic reason.

Patrick O’Malley
is a tale of historical adventure under a cruel regime, that of the British
Empire in the 1820s. As a University of Queensland graduate with a major in
history, I’ve always been intrigued by my city’s relatively short but dramatic
past. Patrick O’Malley is an Irish convict determined to escape the penal
colony that was based on the northern banks of the Brisbane River. Little
remains of this era, but the haunted treadmill on Wickham Terrace and the commissariat
store down by the river on William Street are still intact today. Across the
water, convicts often cleared woodland in the area that now forms the picnic
spot of Southbank. This is where Patrick O’Malley tries his luck.

The hilly suburb of Paddington and, in the city centre, the
town hall with its clock tower are the settings for Party Trick. The story starts at a party in a trendy Paddington
house and ends in King George Square You won’t believe what happens one
seemingly normal day when the clock strikes twelve.

Will there be more stories emerging from my imagination and
walking the streets of Brisbane? Yes, of that you can be sure.

Bio:

Cameron Trost concocts strange and mysterious tales that explore the absurdities and peculiarities of society and the human mind. His short fiction has been published in magazines and anthologies such as Midnight Echo, Eclecticism, Fear: A Modern Anthology of Horror and Terror, and Zero Plus Seven. Many of these stories can be found inHoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales. Cameron is from Brisbane and is the vice-president and QLD community leader of the Australian Horror Writers’ Association and a member of the Queensland Writers’ Centre. Blurb for Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales:

A businessman staying in a Scottish manor makes the mistake of deciding to spend the evening in the library. A group of unpopular teenage girls uses witchcraft to pursue their aims. A rich banking tycoon has forgotten his university days when he and his friends dared to imagine a world ruled by social justice and working class ideals. The estranged family of a deceased aristocrat bicker over their inheritance. A botanist’s love for his plants is unnaturally deep-rooted.

“Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales” is the first short story collection from Cameron Trost. It plunges the reader into a world of mystery, suspense, obsession and greed. From the Scottish highlands and the jagged peaks of the Pyrénées to the streets of Brisbane and the Australian countryside, Cameron Trost provokes the reader by ensnaring recognisable characters in disturbingly plausible situations. His writing seeks to entertain while exploring the absurdities and peculiarities of society and the human mind.Links:

The Pitch Madness submission window will be open for 24 hours on March 10!

Pitch Madness is a contest to win a request from one or more of the participating agents. I will have an agent introduction post up soon.

The submission window will be open from 12:01 AM EST on March 10 until 11:59PM EST. You should have plenty of time to get your submissions in. There is no limit of how many entries will be accepted.

Please note: All entries sent before or after the allotted times will be deleted.

There will be 60 finalists moving onto the agent round. Pitch Madness will accept Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult completed fiction, novel length (no novellas) completed and polished manuscripts only. This time around we will not accept non-fiction. Only one entry per writer this round.

What do you need to enter?

A 35-word (max) pitch and the first 250 words of your finished manuscript. If the 250th word falls in the middle of a sentence, go to the end of the sentence. Brenda will post formatting instructions before the submission window opens, along with the email address to send your entries to.

Pitch Madness will be on four blogs and each blog host will have a co-host helping them choose their top 15 entries. Brenda will have a post up soon to introduce the hosts, co-hosts, and slush readers.

We’ll have a small team of first readers checking for formatting and putting their top picks through to the hosts. This time around, the hosts and co-hosts of each blog will choose their team of slush readers for the second round. Some blog teams may opt out of having slush readers. So Brenda won’t be choosing all the slush readers this go around – I’ll be choosing my own team.

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Author Assistant

Heather M Bryant

One day I'll be published. One day I'll have a book with my name on the cover. One day I'll own a purple unicorn. Until that day I'm a twenty-something hopeful with an addiction to coffee and anything that makes me smile.

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E.L. Wicker

Obsessive reader and writer of New Adult fiction. Lover of all things green and leafy, as long as I don't have to eat them. Author of The Bearwood Series.